of all things is the source of all things, the Great Cosmic Intelligence. We must know that no physical thing of itself only can ever create anything. The physical form is the instrument that Life (God) fashioned of His own Essence in order to have something through which He could work His wonders, and give them form also. But He always lives in that instrument! Do not ever lose sight of this fact: The power is always greater than the form through which it manifests, just as electricity is infinitely greater than the bulb through which it manifests as light. It is through union of forms, positive with negative, or masculine with feminine, or Spirit with Soul, that the creation of all forms, or channels, or physical things, results. This eternal principle runs all through the Bible, is the warp and woof of it, the whole substance of it. Seek ye the answer in that Great Book!
PUPIL: But many people say that the Bible is "antiquated," that it is a "book of fables," and of "old wives' tales," etc.
MASTER: How does this concern YOU? Which is the more reliable guide, do you think, the spiritually darkened ones who criticised the Bible or thine own soul which knows light when it sees it? Are you going to do your own thinking or shall you be content to let others do it for you, and wrongly? If we must go to other people in our quest of Truth, let us resolve to go to ones who have the light of the Spirit.
For instance, what does Troward say of the Bible? Let his Wisdom be our guide here. He tells us that "the Bible is the Book of the emancipation of man!" He adds that this means man's complete "deliverance from sorrow, sickness, poverty, struggle, uncertainty, from ignorance and limitation, and finally from death itself." This noble conception of Troward's is exactly what the Bible IS. With such a wonderful Book in print one should not be surprised to learn that it has the widest circulation of any book ever published, that it is still the world's best seller. If the Bible were not Truth, it would not live through so many generations and still hold its pre-eminent position. So let us proceed on the assumption that Troward is right, that the Bible DOES contain the secret whereby the art of living a perfectly free and happy life may be attained.
PUPIL: But the Bible has never been a very interesting book to me. I have thought of it as "old world fables."
MASTER: It was uninteresting to you because you did not understand it. Nevertheless it is a most scientific Book, full of interesting facts and life giving Truth, the finest book ever written about the greatest of all the sciences, the Science of life.
PUPIL: My parents were religious people, church every Sunday morning, prayers every day, and all of that. But I could never see that they were any better off, or any happier -if as happy -than the neighbors who never went to church. But I shall be glad to make an honest effort to understand and follow whatever you outline, even the Bible if you say so.
MASTER: I have spoken. And because you are honest in your desire you will be honest in your thinking; and honest thinking makes a true student. Because you truly wish to understand the art of living you shall come to know it, and when you know Life and really live it you are certain to love it. The Bible IS, I repeat the book of life, and of Life's immutable Laws. Remember always that Life's Laws contain within themselves the solution to every human problem! Indeed "Wisdom is the beginning of magic." The Spirit of Christ, or Intelligent Life, within us is the light of each of us. It will always make the path easy, interesting and joyous IF only we will study and understand how to use our own Divine Power, and then really use it. Once one has formed the habit of looking to the Bible for the answer to all problems it becomes to that one as a lantern carried on a dark night.
The next steps ahead may be in total darkness, but when you approach the light you carry illuminates the path and you know exactly where to step, and just what to do. Your feeling is influenced in the right direction. It is true that the Bible veils its most profound secrets in symbols and parables; but the Wisdom is there for the earnest and consecrated seeker!
Maybe, the author, was right when he wrote:
"The true artist finds that the materials for his art are ever present.
But the ones who can discern the possible uses of these varied materials,
and who possess the instinct, intuition and training
to put them to their best uses are always few in number.
The materials out of which art is made are ever present;
but the artist appears only at intervals!"
So it is with the mysterious force we call Life. Every person has it; but the ones who understand and use Life's finest possibilities, and who get out of it, consequently, its very richest growth are really very few in number. So let us put into this study of Life our very noblest personal energy.
PUPIL: It seems to me, judging from what you say here and from what you have already taught us in these lessons, that our perfecting of the art of living and loving it is based upon the training of the mind and feeling to the point where we shall find as much joy and satisfaction in self-discipline as we formerly found in self-indulgences. Am I right?
MASTER: Yes. Once one has gone that far on the path, he is then around the last turn and on the "way that is straight," the path of splendor that leads directly to conscious union with the father! The Bible says the art of really living and loving Life centers around the record of man's thoughts and feelings, his aspirations, inspirations and experiences, on his discovery of the Life-Spirit as "an ever present help in trouble." When a man has found his real self (the God-Self, or Christ-Radiance) within, when he has discovered the infinite possibilities and potentialities with which he is forever surrounded, when he lives these things and loves the life he lives he becomes the true artist! Then will he use the right materials, then will he produce the results desired in the form of the picture that he originally conceived!
PUPIL: Suppose one has never had the advantages of higher education, that one's whole life has been commonplace and restricted, would such a one be able to understand and apply these beautiful and interesting truths?
MASTER: Yes indeed! One's station in life does not make the slightest difference. One may be a woman who is trying to cook a good meal in the one and only room that she has, on a one-burner gasstove. One may be a man who is a shoe-salesman, and who spends his whole time every day trying to satisfy women customers who insist upon his trying to perfectly and comfortably fit dainty shoes to their large feet.
One may be a king or queen or a servant or a pauper. High or low, exalted or humble, man is a spiritual being! So long as he can think he can always change the outer, or physical, effects to suit the desire of his heart. And the very first steps lie in the thought and in the feeling!
PUPIL: When one's whole environment is one of poverty, or illness, or other dark limitations, how can one have beautiful and hopeful thoughts? Is it not true that the environment influences one's thoughts and feelings? While one is forced to live in the same adverse environment I do not see how there can be much change.
MASTER: If one were perfectly satisfied with an environment such as you describe there could not, and would not, be any change. But if one were divinely dissatisfied with such conditions, and very much wished to change them, it may be done any time, as completely as one may wish, by resort to and use of the Laws of Life.
Suppose, for example, that you would like a position that is more agreeable, more lucrative, shorter hours, etc. If you go forth to look for such a "job," by all means start out with the feeling that you have something valuable to give an employer, and not go out to see how much you can get. If you give the getting will automatically follow. Carry the light of God-consciousness with you in seeking betterment of your position; and when you approach your prospective employer let the light shine.
Suppose too, that you wish a
